Feds: 72-year-old in Pearland had 100K child porn images

Updated 11:01 am, Wednesday, August 28, 2013

A federal jury in Galveston has convicted a 72-year-old Pearland man for distribution and possession of child pornography.

Paul Roetcisoender was convicted Tuesday afternoon following a two-day trial and about two hours of deliberation, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson.

U.S. District Judge Gregg Costa, who presided over the trial, set sentencing for Nov. 13, 2013.

Roetcisoender was arrested on the federal charges on Nov. 14, 2012, and has remained in custody since then.

During the trial, a Pearland police detective testified that he found several videos of child pornography online that were later traced to a computer used by Roetcisoender.

Officers executed a search warrant at Roetcisoender's home in Pearland on June 4, 2012. At that time, an officer found evidence that resulted in the discovery of thousands of images and videos of child pornography on a computer Roetcisoender used.

Roetcisoender admitted downloading and viewing child pornography since the 1990s, the release said.

The jury also heard that more than 2,000 videos and more than 100,000 images of child pornography were found on computers, hard drives and other storage devices that Roetcisoender used and that officers seized, the release said.

Further, the government proved that he distributed child pornography on at least two occasions, as shown by testimony about a file-sharing program that Roetcisoender used, according to the release.

Although the defendant tried to convince jurors that he did not knowingly distribute child pornography, they disagreed and found him guilty on one count of possession and two counts of distribution of child pornography.

Roetcisoender faces a sentence of up to 10 years imprisonment for the possession charge and up to 20 years on each distribution count. The convictions also carry a possible $250,000 fine. Upon completion of any prison term imposed, Roetcisoender also faces a maximum of life on supervised release during which the court can impose a number of special conditions designed to protect children and prohibit his use of the Internet, the release stated.

This case, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Stabe, was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.